Shannon is a single mother. She works full-time during the day while her daughter is at school. Once work is finished, until 8:30 PM, Shannon's attention is focused on maintaining her home, making dinner, helping her daughter with homework, and spending quality time together. She is also a full-time college student.
Brett is a bachelor who works on oil rigs. His work days can sometimes be as long as 18 hours. He is away for three weeks working, and then home one. During his week off, he works at a local gym. Brett is a full-time college student
Desiree is a nurse. A typical schedule for her is working twelve hours a day, three days a week. Her child has special education needs and she did not want to leave her family to chase a career. She is a full-time student.
These individuals represent the new face of adult education - online students. Colleges and universities have offered print-based, self-paced distance education courses for some time, so the deftness the internet made online courses a natural progression in our ever increasing technological world. Unlike the print-based courses, online courses offer students to experience much more of the 'college experience'. Online courses provide education in real-time, mirroring the traditional classroom with lectures, peer and instructor interaction, and assignment deadlines.
There are many positive aspects that make online courses and degrees appealing and benefitical. Online courses offer freedom. Individuals have the chance to take courses without having to trudge to class three times a week. It also allows adults the opportunity to work towards their degree and maintain their outside obligations and responsibilities. It used to be that the only way for a working adult to attend school was to go to night school. With the technology provided by with online courses, that is a trend of the past. The flexibility of online courses allows adults to live their lives without disruptions and work towards a degree at the same time.
Online courses also offer students the opportunities to excel as students. Since the lecture materials appear online in text form and is accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, students can review more easily concepts and principles needed for class success. Students are also given time to think critically of answers to questions in the discussion area, instead of being pressured and pushed to rapidly answer a professor's question in class. Online courses especially help students that are timid or shy and fear speaking in front of a class. "Going to school as an adult can be hard. It was even harder for me because I am so shy. Online courses allowed me to be in courses with other adults who I could relate to and gave me a chance to learn, instead of hiding and trying not to be noticed during a lecture in a classroom," Shannon Smith states.
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